A World Of Laughter, A World Of Tears

[statichaos]

It's funny, but President Disney still sounds strange to me.

But, that I find most interesting is this.



I'm not sure if it mean Stennis serves at least one year, or just a year.

It's a typical anniversary piece, as you can see by the date of publication.

 

[theReturner]

It's a typical anniversary piece, as you can see by the date of publication.

Darn, I was hoping we would get a "Kennedy Killed Stennis" Conspiracy.

 

[Historico]

POTUS' of A World of Laughter, A World of Tears

33. Harry S. Truman

Home-State: Missouri
Party: Democrat
Term: April 12th 1945-January 20th 1953
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley (D-KY)

34. Walter E. "Walt" Diseny

Home-State: California
Party: Republcian
Term: January 20th 1953-January 20th 1961
Vice President: Everett Dirksen (R-IL)

35. John C. Stennis

Home-State: Mississippi
Party: Democrat
Term: January 20th 1961-???
Vice President: John F. Kennedy (D-MA)

 

[kilopi505]

WOW



Wow.

I LOVE THIS TIMELINE! GO FORTH AND UPDATE!

P.S.
What could we expect next?

 

[Arachnid]

Well bugger me sideways, this is going to end well. Though at least it wasn't a black guy with the grenade, that would have probably kicked of Kristalnacht Mk.2.

 

[Nicole]

Please tell me you didn't just kill Kennedy...

 

[Osakadave]

Nice update. One nit-pick - it's Wertham, not Werthram.

 

[statichaos]

Please tell me you didn't just kill Kennedy...

No, I would have mentioned that. I'm trying to avoid certain "fated to happen" things in this timeline. The Kennedy assassination is one of them. The fact that Nixon and Kennedy were up against each other in 1960 was an unintentional exception to the rule, and I tried to make up for it by having Nixon beat Kennedy in their debate.

 

[statichaos]

Nice update. One nit-pick - it's Wertham, not Werthram.

You're right. I'll go fix that. Thanks.

 

[statichaos]

Historico: Interesting to see it all laid out like that. Thanks!

 

[statichaos]

Wow.

I LOVE THIS TIMELINE! GO FORTH AND UPDATE!

P.S.
What could we expect next?

Thank you!

Let's see...the timeline will be wrapping up in March at an obvious ending point. Before then, we'll see the passing of a couple of bills that the White House will be pushing, as well as an interesting twist in the Welles subplot. Oh, and of course I'll be dropping hints as to what will happen in the all-but-inevitable sequel.

 

[Chip Merton]

Awsome

Stat--I am a new reader on the forums and this is one of the best dystopias I have read ever. Great Job!

 

[Hendryk]

Damn, an assassination attempt on inauguration day, the perfect excuse for a crackdown.

Who was it already who said that the government ought to be afraid of the people? After that it seems the government is going to be afraid all right, but I doubt it will do much good.

 

[Redem]

Damn, an assassination attempt on inauguration day, the perfect excuse for a crackdown.

Who was it already who said that the government ought to be afraid of the people? After that it seems the government is going to be afraid all right, but I doubt it will do much good.

I doubt they really need excuse or justify crack down at this point

 

[President Al Bundy]

This update makes me wonder, what Lee Harvey Oswald is up to. But as you've said, there won't be probably an assasination attempt on November 22nd, 1963.

Nonetheless, this is going to end very bloody.

 

[Hendryk]

Nonetheless, this is going to end very bloody.

Let's not turn this into dystopia porn either. Beyond a certain point, everything going wrong becomes as implausible as everything going right.

 

[Japhy]

This update makes me wonder, what Lee Harvey Oswald is up to. But as you've said, there won't be probably an assasination attempt on November 22nd, 1963.

Nonetheless, this is going to end very bloody.

Lee Harvey was institutionalized by a court a few years ago after Adlai Stevenson failed to win his court case for him.

 

[Snarf]

Let's not turn this into dystopia porn either. Beyond a certain point, everything going wrong becomes as implausible as everything going right.

I don't see that as happening...as bad as things are, they could have been worse. Rockwell was denied the Presidency and threw away a Cabinet appointment, for example, and so far Vietnam appears to be a dead letter (although Cuba is looking like a more-than-suitable substitute). We've seen hints that the balance of power will shift in the future (the Warren court is still in place, and Jerry Brown and Ralph Nader are on trajectories for major power--although like cancer it's arguable if the best possible cure will be an improvement over the disease). And aside from the racial troubles the standard of living in the country appears no different from OTL. We even get an earlier manned space program and an interstate high-speed rail system, so there are actually some positives.

As the author said, most people are just going about their lives. For the vast majority of folks, there are no midnight knocks on the door followed by rides to desolate places in the back seat of a dark sedan. Not yet, anyway...

 

[Lord Insane]

Let's not turn this into dystopia porn either. Beyond a certain point, everything going wrong becomes as implausible as everything going right.

It strikes me that when one thinks about it, this timeline isn't quite as dystopic as it might appear at first glance, yet- most of the world outside the US isn't all that much worse off, after all.

 

[Snarf]

Werthram, I hate that guy

He is an unusual choice for this administration. Despite his reputation for advocating censorship established during the juvenile delinquency hearings, Werthram was *very* liberal (one of his pet projects was reconciling Marx with Freud) and an advocate of racial integration (his research on the psychological effects of segregation on young children was used to support the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in OTL and he ran a free clinic in Harlem). Even as far as his crackdown on comic books goes, Werthram's only intent was to establish a rating system for comics to keep the more explicit titles out of the hands of young children (similar to what was eventually adopted for movies), not to destroy the industry itself. He later on became an enthusiastic advocate of comics fandom in the 1970's, but his reputation amongst comics fans had already been tarnished by his earlier work.

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_1/reviews/eklund.shtml

I don't see him lasting in the post very long...like C. Everett Koop as Reagan's Surgeon General OTL, he'll get a reputation for bucking the administration (which Koop did repeatedly, on abortion rights, the tobacco industry, and AIDS). Stennis is probably going to ask for his resignation within his first term.